Prod



Dec. 8, 1.942.

R. w. WRIGHT 2,304,065

PROD

Filed June 22, 1959 lNVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

Patented Dec. 8, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PROD Russell w. Wright, Sioux City, Iowa Application June 22, 1939, Serial No. 280,663

2 Claims.

This invention relates to an improved type of electric cattle prod for use by farmers, live stock handlers, and others in driving and controlling cattle.

An object of the invention is to provide. an electric live stock prod which is compact, inexpensive, requires little care in servicing and which may be assembled from conventional flashlight casings and batteries.

The invention contemplates the generation of a high tension electric current which will prickle the live stock when the contact points of the prod are pressed against the animals hide. This high tension current, while providing a mild shock which is readily understood by the animal driven, is utterly harmless thereto and has been found most efiicacious in use.

Portable electric live stock prods have been heretofore suggested, but they are for the most part cumbersome, expensive apparatuses assembled from special parts and the operating mechanisms used required constant attention.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is a side elevation of the complete prod showing its casing, electrodes, and base cap;

Fig. 2 is a broken away view of Fig. 1 partly in vertical cross section;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2 in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 4 is a plan of the base of the current generating unit;

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the unit showing the spring contact members and current maker and breaker;

Fig. 6 is a bottom plan view of the electrode head; and

Fig. '7 is a diagrammatic illustration of the electrical circuit employed.

Specifically in the drawing, numeral I denotes a conventional multi-cell metallic flashlight casing having a base cap 2 and spring conductor 3 pressing against the base of the metallic envelope of the first of a series of electric cells 4. The series of cells 4 abut one another as is usual and in lieu of the foremost cell there is substituted a detachable high frequency current generating unit ID.

This unit extends from adjacent the end of the flashlight casing and is retained therein by a head member II having two spaced electrodes I 2 fastened therein. The head H is provided with an enlarged base portion l3 and the whole is retained in the end of the casing l by means of a screw ferrule I 4. The inner surface of the therein into the bottom. of which lower ends of the electrodes 1 2 extend.

The high frequency unit per se, It, consists of an insulated front plate retained in slightly spaced position from the U-shaped iron frame 2| which as shown extends rearwardly andjoins an insulated plate 22 also held in spaced relation from the coil sections of the unit. A central iron core 25 having a primary winding 28'wrapped thereon with an overlying secondary coil 21 is retained between the arms of the U-shaped frame 2|. A fixed condenser 28 is mounted adjacent the bottom insulating plate 22 in a manner and for a purpose which will be hereinafter described, as is also a vibrating arm 29.

The free end 30 of the vibrator has a contact 3| afiixed thereto for periodic engagement with a contact 33 made in the form of a screw that passes through the insulating plate 22 which, as shown in Fig. 4, extends through the plate 22 and terminates in a lock nut 34 and has pressing engagement with a bus bar 35. Fig. 4 also illus trates the inturned ears 36 and nut and bolts 37 which retain the ends of the U-shaped frame 2| in engagement with the bottom of the plate 22.

Referring now to the forward end of the high frequency generating unit, it will be observed, as shown in Fig. 5, that the insulating plate 20 is formed with spaced parallel grooves 4i! on opposite sides of a central insulating strip 4| which carries a spring arm 42 having a contact 43 for engagement with a second spring arm 44. Mounted in the grooves are oppositely extending spring fingers 45 which have lower straight sections 46, convolutions 41 and outwardly extending bent arms 48. The bent portions 48 ride in the grooves l5 provided in the inner face of the cap II, and as the cap is freely mounted within the ferrule I4, it will float on the oppositely extending spring arms 48.

The electrical connections of the unit will be obvious to those skilled in the art and are diagrammatically shown in Fig. '7. Here, one side of the circuit passes through the bottom metal wall of the cells through spring 3 and metal casing 1 to one terminal of the conventional flashlight switch S or other type of circuit maker and breaker. The central pole 50 of the top cell contacts the plate 35 across which the condenser 28 and vibrator 29 are connected. When the switch S is closed the circuit is complete and after passing through the cells and condenser, as before described, flows through primary 26 of the induction coil and thence through sechead H has two spaced parallel slots l5 formed on y t u Suitable leads to the Spring arms 48. The switch S or the like may be excluded if desired, as the prod may readily be operated by the depression of the electrodes l2.

In operation the electrodes l2 are pressed against the animals hide and this depresses the floating head and thus closes the circuit between contact 43 and switch arm 44 so that a large high frequency current surge passes through electrodes l2 to mildly shock the animal. The vibrator 29 rapidly opens and closes this high frequency current to insure a continuous current supply so that the shocking current is applied to the animal as long as it is held in contact therewith.

The U-shaped frame 2| may be preferably made of any suitable sheet metal, and may be shaped either integrally or sectionally to wholly or partially enclose the sides and one end of the coil, and to provide at the opposite end of the coil the cars 36 for supporting the point assembly 30 free of the usual tendency to short circuits and corrosion prevalent in prior devices and at the same time effectively acts in the dual function as a magnetic field for the coil and as the mechanical means for holding the entire assembly as a single unit.

What I claim is:

1. An electrical animal prod including a readily removable high tension electricity generating unit having the general size and shape of a. conventional flashlight battery cell and adapted for use in a conventional flashlight casing, a plurality of battery units connected thereto and a resiliently supported readily removable head having a pair of spaced electrodes extending therefrom, said electrodes being energized from said unit when said head is depressed, said unit being held in integral assembly by a U-shaped outer frame, said frame providing the magnetic field for said unit.

2. An electric prod fabricated from a conventional multi-cell flashlight casing of the type having a tubular metal shell, a base cap and top cap, said prod including a readily removable resiliently supported head member movably held in the end of said casing by said top cap, a plurality of conventional electrically connected primary battery cells positioned in the opposite end of said casing and a readily removable high tension electricity generating unit of the general size and shape of a battery cell positioned between said head and the uppermost of said batteries.

RUSSELL W. WRIGHT. 

